


Polaris

by breepers_creepers



Series: Asterism [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Lodestar AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22042435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breepers_creepers/pseuds/breepers_creepers
Summary: The Portal never opened. Clockwork rebels. Danny must die in every timeline.
Series: Asterism [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586794
Kudos: 50





	Polaris

Jack raised his arms dramatically, a plug in each hand, and connected them with a flourish.  
The cord sparked. The portal did not turn on.  
Jack pouted.  
"I don't understand," Maddie said wearily. "We've gone over the blueprints four times, checked each wire and circuit, even changed the plugs. Why isn't it working?"  
Jack sighed. "Maybe we should start from scratch."  
Maddie's eyes widened behind her ruby safety goggles. "Jack, it took us _two years_ to build this!"  
"I know, Mads, I know, but what else can we do?" Jack shook his head. "First the proto-portal, now this. Maybe it's just not meant to be."  
Maddie lowered her hood. She ran a shaky hand through her hair, and huffed. "Maybe if we got in contact with Vlad again..."  
Jack lit up. "That's a great idea! Let's go visit him! I'm sure he'd love to see us again!"  
"What? Jack, no, that's not what I meant-"  
Jack wasn't listening. He was already rambling in his excitement to meet his old friend again. Maddie sighed again and left the lab to pack a bag.  
After Jack calmed down, he did the same, and they loaded the RV.  
As Jack started up the engine, Maddie darted back inside. She wrote a quick note for her children, letting them know that they'd be gone for a few days and the stay out of the lab, and placed it in the center of the dining table. Hopefully her daughter would notice it.  
They drove away, leaving Illinois for Wisconsin. Jack chattered happily the whole way, but Maddie couldn't help but feel nervous. Her kids were old enough to take care of themselves, but she couldn't help the awful feeling that something was going to happen.

Clockwork watched the scene unfolding on his viewing screen. A young boy led his two friends into a basement, covered floor to ceiling in chrome and sporting work tables with half finished inventions and vials of chemicals. The three children crept down the stairs, hyper-alert for any adults, but the adults were long gone.  
The shortest boy led his friends to a large hole built into one wall. They stared in awe. The girl took a few pictures, then harassed the boy into stepping inside the hole. He went nervously, and stood still in the very center as the girl took another picture. He crept out cautiously and the other boy cracked a joke. The three friends laughed and walked back upstairs, unaware that anything different was supposed to have happened.  
Clockwork turned around to stare at the door. Any moment now...  
"Clockwork!" A green, amorphous cyclops barged into the clocktower. "What have you done!?"  
"I have done nothing."  
"Exactly!" cried the Observant. "You have allowed the timeline to branch off of it's predestined path! The portal was supposed to open! Phantom was supposed to have been created! Your negligence has ruined the timeline!"  
"On the contrary," Clockwork grinned, "I have created a new one."

Danny was running from the moment he left the school building. He wasn't alone, of course. Sam and Tucker ran behind him, creating a barrier between he and Dash. But none of the three were very athletic people, and the jock was quickly catching up.  
Dash was yelling at Danny, and his friends were cheering him on from slightly further down the sidewalk.  
Suddenly Sam and Tucker dropped back, attempting to wrestle the blond away. Dash simply pushed onward, barely pausing at Sam's steel-toed kicks.  
Danny continued to run, approaching the intersection. He glanced back as Dash overpowered his friends. Danny's feet touched the pavement, but he didn't look, watching as Dash ran towards him with all the speed of a quarter-back.  
Danny didn't even remember why Dash was mad at him today, but that didn't matter. He pushed his legs farther, reaching the center of the road.  
A car blared it's horn and Danny snapped his neck to the side, noticing the car only inches away.  
The bumper slammed into his hips, and Danny flew headlong into the intersection.  
Sam and Tucker screamed.  
A second car screeched to a halt a few seconds too late, hitting Danny from the opposite side and knocking his head onto the pavement.  
All traffic stopped.  
People were shouting. Someone was crying.  
Blood dripped in Danny's eyes, blinding him on one side. He couldn't feel his body. Distantly, he was thankful.  
Someone was kneeling next to him, brushing hair out of his face, pressing cold fingers against his neck.  
Someone else grabbed his wrist, gently rolling him to his back, despite a third person saying not to move him.  
Danny stared dazedly at the sky. It was blue. Puffy white clouds drifted slowly. Danny wished it were night.  
Suddenly, the sky turned black, little pinpricks of lights dancing in front of his eyes into constellations. His nerves calmed.  
Danny looked down. He was standing. The pavement was wet. He looked up. Sam and Tucker were kneeling on the ground, sobbing. A motionless lump lay between them.  
People were yelling and shifting like a school of fish, but Danny wasn't interested in them. He walked closer, not finding it odd when he stepped straight through the crowd, and leaned over his friends, wondering what had made them so sad, if a dog had been hit by a car, maybe.  
He looked at the twisted body.  
_'Oh,'_ Danny thought. _'That's me.'_  
He glanced down at his hands. They were a pale, pastel green. His feet weren't touching the ground. _'Ooohhh,'_ he realized.  
Danny glanced back at the sidewalk. Dash stood frozen, sickly pale, trembling at the knees, staring at the mess. The rest of the A-List hovered around him, trying to move him away without looking at the scene in the street. Dash didn't acknowledge them.  
Finally, Danny felt a flicker of emotion. To his surprise, it was pity. Dash certainly hadn't meant for this to happen, Danny knew without a doubt, but it would haunt him forever. Hopefully, though, Danny thought, it might make him a better person.  
As long as he left Sam and Tucker alone, Danny would forgive him.  
As if a switch had been flipped, a flash of purple tore through the air. It spiraled wider, looking not unlike an elliptical galaxy. Danny felt drawn to it, and knew that he was supposed to be on the other side of wherever this portal led. But it would be awhile before he came back, so he took a long look at Sam and Tucker, memorized her black hair and purple eyes, his red hat and nerdy glasses.  
Then he smiled, and stepped through.  
"Hello Daniel. I've been _dying_ to meet you."

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first work on AO3, but I'm really excited for it. I've already got 80 parts planned, though each is only a oneshot.


End file.
